The President of the United States has signed the long-term FAA Reauthorization that was finally approved by both the House and Senate over the past several days.

Not everyone is happy (least of all, the model aviation community--for good reason), but most of the truly onerous aspects put forth in the last few years, especially the push for ATC Privatization, have gone by the wayside... for now. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) completed the first flight of its second MQ-9B SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) (YBC02) aircraft on September 26. The flight of the company-owned aircraft was conducted at Laguna Army Airfield in Yuma Proving Grounds. The second MQ-9B SkyGuardian gives the GA-ASI program team another aircraft to perform important development testing and demonstrations. New capabilities that weren’t available when the first prototype was completed in 2016, such as lightning protection, an upgraded avionics and software suite, and a de-icing system, have been included as part of MQ-9B’s roadmap to become the first RPA to be certified to fly in civil airspace. The 2018 MultiGP Drone Racing Championship and 2019 DRL
Swatch Tryouts eSports Tournament will be held together in Las Vegas, Nevada over the weekend of February 8-10, 2019. The competitions merge real-life drone racing with an eSport drone racing tournament with the best pilots in the world meeting to compete. For the first time ever, the winner of the MultiGP Drone Racing Championship will be offered a contract for the upcoming 2019 DRL season, airing on ESPN. All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne-Unmanned!!!

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